Ishbel Brown Speaks Out on Cuts to Lambeth Services

Ishbel Brown, Lib Dem Councillor for Oval, was due to speak last Wednesday in the debate on Lambeth Council's budget; however, following the occupation of the Council Chamber by protesters, Ishbel was unable to speak.

Ishbel's planned speech outlined options that the Council could have followed in order to lessen the severity of cuts to Lambeth's front-line services, and is reprinted below:

I am impressed that Lambeth Council has managed to accumulate so many reserves (almost £120 million) in the last four years.

One may be fooled into thinking that they were terribly prudent, and had full control of the financial situation; until, of course, you scrape away the veneer and realize the millions that have been wasted.

I want to talk specifically about the reserves. Firstly an interesting concept, but a truth nonetheless, is that one saves to spend. I believe the ‘invest to save’ scheme (containing £7 million) was established some years ago, and yet there are no significant Labour proposals to use this money – they have had 3 years to come up with ways to invest this money to generate future savings, and yet nearly all of the money still remains stashed away in a bank.

Additionally, I would like to know exactly what the earmarked reserves are earmarked for – what is more important – squirreling away money, or putting, say, lollipop people on the street to protect children crossing dangerous roads?

This Council is not a bank. Our job is to spend the resources in a way that best serve the people of Lambeth, not have millions sitting in accounts doing nothing but earning negligible interest. In the current climate, it is both immoral and uneconomic to be hoarding such cash.

As stated, we save to spend at a later (usually rainy) date – has this wet day not arrived?

It is not acceptable to hit the vulnerable and those in need when the Council is awash with money held in reserves. We propose to use £10m (a mere 8% of the total) to mitigate the cuts – a proposal the S151 officer says is legal and I think it is fair.

Instead of spending these reserves, this Labour administration has chosen to cut front line services whilst stating publicly that the coalition government is to blame. In my short time in this chamber, I am yet to hear Labour take responsibility for any of their actions – instead bleating that it is someone else’s fault.